Attention all chameleon fans! It's official: there is now one more species of chameleon known to science. Meet the Magombera chameleon, aka Kinyongia magomberae, a small chameleon with a long tail and a delicate spattering of colors.
Although most of its body scales are a soft grey-brown hue, this little lizard is far from dull. The Magombera chameleon has a gorgeous sprinkling of tiny blue spots across its body, which are best seen in this enlarged photo of the chameleon. Its limbs are dainty and green, it has red-brown scales atop its crown, and it sports a dappling of green and blue scales across its face. Lovely golden lines highlight its gular grouves.
The Magombera chameleon inhabits two patches of forest in the Udzungwa Mountain range in Tanzania: the Magombera Forest and the Mwanihana Forest. The Magombera Forest is an unprotected area of about 10 square kilometers located in the Kilombero valley. The Mwanihana Forest is a larger block of forest that lies within Udzungwa Mountains National Park and covers about 177 square kilometers.
The species was first spotted in 2002 and again in 2003. But it wasn't until 2005 that the new chameleon truly captured the attention it deserved. That year, Dr. Andrew Marshall from the Environment Department of the University of York, was in Magombera Forest working on a research project aimed at protecting the region's threatened forests. While walking through a patch of lowland forest surveying monkeys, Dr. Marshall came across a twig snake. The snake was startled and, as it fled for cover, it dropped the prey it had been holding in its mouth. Dr. Marshall seized the opportunity to examine the prey the snake had left behind—it appeared to be some kind of chameleon.
Dr. Marshall took a photograph of the chameleon and showed it to some local experts. They made note of the lizard's unique head shape and scale pattern and quickly concluded that the specimen represented a new species of chameleon.
The Magombera chameleon is small for its size but its tail is relatively long—longer in fact than the length of the rest of its body. It has a distinct scaly bump on its nose. Like all chameleons, it has quirky eyes that move independently of one another. It has didactyl feet, which means that although it has five toes on each foot, the toes are fused into a group of two and a group of three, giving the foot a clasp-like structure that enables the animal to grip tightly to branches.
Despite the happy news of the discovery of the Magombera chameleon, there is reason to be concerned. One of the two patches of forest it inhabits remains unprotected and unless adequate conservation measures are put in place, the chameleon could face threats. As Dr. Marshall points out, "Chameleon species tend to be focused in small areas and, unfortunately, the habitat this one depends on, the Magombera Forest, is under threat. Hopefully this discovery will support efforts to provide this area and others like it with greater protection."
For more information, you can listen to Dr. Andrew Marshall speak about the discovery and his conservation research in the Magombera Forest here. You can view a larger photo of the Mangombera chameleon here.
Refs:
MICHELE MENEGON, KRYSTAL A. TOLLEY, TREVOR JONES, FRANCES COROVERO, ANDREW R. MARSHALL, & COLIN R. TILBURY (2009). A new species of chameleon (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae: Kinyongia) from the Magombera forest and the
Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania African Journal of Herpetology, 58 (2), 59-70
Photo © Dr. Andrew Marshall / University of York.
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